Control mechanism



June 7, 1938. 1 E. E. WINKLEY 2,119,617

CONTROL MECHANISM Filed' Nov. 11, 1935 f// VE/V TUQ mi A r Z 77 M 5%Patented June 7, 1 938 2, 1

UNITED sTArss PATENT orsics CONTROL IWECHANISM Erastus E. Winkley, Lynn,Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J., acorporation of New Jersey Application November 11, 1935, Serial No.49,268

6 Claims. (01. 192-125) This invention relates to mechanism for conthisweight is exceeded the support is moved trolling the operation ofmachines, for example down, and this movement of the support, throughfor preventing under certain circumstances the suitable mechanism,prevents further operation operation of individual machines of a serieswhich of the preceding machine.

are used to perform successive operations upon In order to ensure thatthe attention of the 5 an article being manufactured. foreman shall beimmediately called to the fact In the manufacture of shoes by theso-called that the operation of amachine has been stopped, rink system,a plurality of machines are arranged there is provided, in accordancewith another feain series in the order of operations which are to trueof the invention, a signal which is automati- 10 be performed. Anoperator of a preceding macally displayed when more than the predeter-10 chine, for example operator number 1, as fast mined number ofarticles have accumulated on as he completes his operation on a shoe,places the support. the shoe upon a support which is accessible to Theseand other features of the invention, inoperator number 2 of thesucceeding machine. eluding certain details of construction and com-Operator number 2 takes the shoes one by one bloat-ions of parts, willbe described as embodied 15 from this support, operates upon them andplaces in an illustrated construction and pointed out them upon a.second support which is accessible in the pp claimsi to operator number3, etc. The shoes thus pass Referring n w to the accompanying wi g,through the various operations in sequence; and l is a dia m t vat f a Cnt l if, as is common, they comprise groups or 1 1, mechanism applied toa series of three machines 2 v of shoes of different styles, the lots ofeach style which are adapted t p rform operations sucremain together asthey pass through the series s v y p articles being manufactm'ed; ofmachines as long as the system is running Fi 2 i a e l, p ip lly inelevation smoothly. If however, for any reason, the op- 1113011 agreatly enlarg d Scale, 0f Oiie 0f t mechorator of a preceding ma hi turt partly anisms for controlling the operation of the ma- 25 finishedshoes faster than the next succeeding op- Chineserator can take careoithenr-a situation which The Work Passes thmugh the Series Qf arisesfor example when the succeeding machine chines from right to left 5Viewed in b k d .h preceding operator Soon fills the three machinesshown being indicated respecthe support provided for the shoes uponwhich tively all B and AS fast as the Operator 30 he has operated andthereafter piles the shoes of machine A finishes his Opemiion 111 0 an iindiscriminately wherever he can, usually upon article, he places it p aDD in the fOI'm the floor. When such an abnormal accumulation of ta 3 pd t 5 0 a stationary P Of of shoes of various styles occurs, the shoesbethe machine and held p y a prin aid come mixed with one another sothat, after the spring being of h s h and tension that, 35

machine which broke do n ha b n put i t 013- until a number oi articleswhich exceed a cereration again, considerable time is required to Weighthave been placed UDOII t e Support, sort out the various styles of shoeswhich have d Suppo Will remain in t e DOSitiOH S own; accumulated andput them in proper order once but as soon as this Weight is exceeded,the sup- 40 more. port will swing down about its pivot and close 40 V Inorder to take care of situations of which an electric circuit.Closingthe circuit energizes the one outlined above is an example and ina So eno d 9 which pulls a controller, in the form accordance with onefeature of the invention, a Of a Catc Over a Co lar 12 on a treadle rodmachine is prevented from further operation i3 th r y pr v pw d mov mentof said when more than a given number of articles optlerliiie Nd andthus preventing further pe a- 45 erated upon by it and placed by theoperator tion of the machine, it being understood that the upon asupport have accumulated on the suptreadle is normally h in the p sit onshown port. In the illustrated construction, the 013- by the usual spriand iS p ed d eleased erator of a preceding machine places the articlesonce for each operation of the machine. At the upon a support from whichthey are taken b th same time that the controller I l becomes opera.- 5

operator of a succeeding machine preparatory to tive, .a signa 15 is p yperforming the succeeding operation, said sup- The operator of machine Btakes the articles port being yieldingly held in a predetermined po- 7one by one from the support 3, operates upon sition as long as thearticles placed upon it do them and places them upon a support I5 which5 not exceed a certain Weight. When, however, is substantially the sameas the support 3 and 55 V predetermined weight accumulate upon it.

at I9 to the base of the machine and normally,

V erated;

g I V "Pivoted at its'lower end at $3 tothe tail of the acts to preventfurther operation of machine B whenever a nuinberof articles whichexceeda The operator of machine C takes thearticles from the support 55,operates upon them and places them upon'a support ll which issubstantially identical with the supports l5 and 3 and operates in thesame manner. The operator of the machine (not 'shown) which followsmachine C'takes the articles from the support H. J

The control mechanisms for all three of the machines shown aresubstantially alike, and consequently only one of them will be describedin detail. In Fig. 2, there is shown on a greatly enlarged scale theconstruction of the control mechanism of machine C. This machine iscaused to go through 'orie cycle of operations and then come to restwhenever a treadle l8, pivoted heldin the position shown by a spring(not shown) is depressed and released. Depression of the treadle causesupward movement of a treadle rod 2] the lower end of which is pivoted toone end of the treadle, and the upper end of which is pivoted to theouter end of an arm 23, rocking of which controls in a known manner asuitable starting and stopping mechanism which may be of any approvedtype. The treadle rod 2| has an enlarged portion, herein shown as acollar 25, ad-;

justably fastened to the rod by ascrew 21, said collar being adapted tobe engaged by a catch 2% whenever too many articles have accumulated onthe support I'll This catch or controller is i pivoted at 3| to abracket 32 bolted. to the frame of the machine and is normally held inthe inop erative position shown by a tension spring 33 attached at itsupper end to the'tail of the catch and at its lower end to the bracket32. A link 35 is pivoted at one end at 3;? to the catch 29 and at'theother'end at 38 to the core 4| of a solenoid43jwhich is mounted on thebracket 32.

"One terminal of the helix of the solenoid is connected by a conductor45 to the line-wire 41, and,

the other terminal isconnected by a conductor 48 to a contact member,fil' carried by but insulated from a bracket 49 carried by the frame ofthe machine, said frame being connected by a conductor 5| with thegrounded line-wire 53. The article support H, which is pivoted to thebracket 49 at 55, carrie'sat its outer end a con' tact member 5T whichis normally held by a' compression spring 59 out of engagement 'with thecontact member 5!. As long as the articles placed upon the support i? donot exceeda predetermined weight, the support remains in the positionshown with the contact'members spaced apart; but, as soon as this weightis exceeded, the support swings down'to close the circuit whereupon thesolenoid is energized and the catch ,29 is swung to the l'eftto hookover the collar or enlarged portion 25 on the treadlerod 2! so that thetreadle Hi can no longer bedepressed, and the machine is thus preventedfrom being" ope Atthe same time, a stop signal is displayed.

catch 29'is a rod 65 the upper end of which carries aplate Bl verticallyslidable in 'afcasing 69 which is fasten'ed to the frame of the machine.

This .plate has marked'upon" it the word 'Go and' Stop, and the casinghas in it an. opening or; window through which normally the word Go isvisible.' As soon, however, as the catch 29 'i s r j 'swung to theleit,:the wordStopis'displayed,

In'order-to'perlnit the normal position of the article support IT, :aswell as the tension of the spring 59 to be varied so that the supportmay be caused to respond properly to differentpredetermined Weights ofarticles, the spring engages with its upper end the top of a recessformed in the under side of the support and with its lower end the upperend of a'headed sleeve Hwhich is threaded into a bore in the bracket;and a pin 13, which extends through the sleeve TI and the spring 59, hasat its upper end a head'which is received in a recess in the upper sideof the support and at its lower end a threaded portion en gaged by a nut15. By turning the nut 15, the normal position of the support may bechanged, and by turningthe sleeve H the tension of the spring 59 may bevaried.

The control mechanism for machine A is identical with that of machine C,except that the'article support 3 ispivoted at its left-hand end to itsbracket instead of being pivoted at its right-hand end as in machine C.Thecontrol' mechanism for machine B differs from that of machine Cprincipallyby reason of the fact that the article support I5 on whichthe operator of machine B places articles as fast'as he has operateduponthem is mounted on a bracket on machine C; and consequently theconductor '11 from one terminal of the helix of the solenoid of machineB leads to a contact member carried bya bracket of machine C upon whichthe article support l5 ispivoted. V r

With a plurality of machines arranged in series as herein shown, if, forany reason, the operator of a succeeding machine can not keep up with,the operator of a preceding machine, said preceding machine is presentlyprevented from further operation and a' signal is displayed, whereuponthe foreman of the room in which the machines areinstalled isimmediately notified of the diffi-' culty and can at once take steps tocorrect it and put the system into smooth running order once more, Ashas been explained above, thisiis particularly advantageous whenarticles such as shoes are going'through in groups or lots the styles ofwhich vary, since it ensures that the shoes of any given lot shall notget mixed with shoesof another lot. It should also be noted above'may beuseful as applied toa single ma chine where, for example, it is desiredthat, as soon as a given number of articles shall have been operatedupon, they should be removed and placed in a container. 7 a

Although the invention has been set forth as be understood that theinvention is not limited in the scope of its application to theparticular ap paratus which has been shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto'secure by Letters Pat,- entof the United States is: 1 '1. Thecombination, with two -machines for performing operations on articlessuccessively,

that a control mechanism such as that described embodied in ,aparticular apparatus, it should of a yieldable support adapted'toreceive the" articles frorn the first machine preparatory to beingoperated upon by the second machine, and; means associated with saidsupport for stopping the operation of the first machine when articles:

which exceed a'pr'edetermined quantity accumu-f late upon' the support.I

r 2. The combination, I with performing operations onarticlessuccessively, of Ta movable support upon which articles operatedupon-iby the first machine are placed preparatory to being operated uponby the second machine,

7 70* 'two' machines foryielding means for maintaining said support in aselected position until articles exceeding a predetermined quantityaccumulate upon it, an electric circuit, means operated by movement ofthe support in opposition to the yielding means for closing the circuit,a control member normally held in inoperative position to permit thefirst machine to operate, and means responsive to closing the circuitfor moving the control member into operative position to prevent furtheroperation of the first machine.

3. Mechanism for controlling the operation of a plurality of machineswhich are arranged in series and are adapted to perform successiveoperations upon articles being manufactured, said mechanism comprising aplurality of supports upon which articles operated upon by precedingmachines are placed preparatory to being removed by the operator ofsucceeding machines and operated upon again, and means for preventingthe operation of a preceding machine when articles operated upon by itwhich exceed a predetermined quantity accumulate upon its support.

4. Mechanism for controlling the operation of the preceding one of twomachines Which are arranged to perform successive operations uponarticles being manufactured, said mechanism comprising a supportaccessible to the operator of the succeeding machine upon which articlesoperated upon by the preceding machine are placed, means for holdingsaid support in a predetermined position in opposition to a givenquantity of articles placed upon it and for permitting the support tomove when the given quantity is exceeded, a member movement of whichcontrols the operation of the preceding machine, and means responsive tothe movement of the support for causing the control member. to move intoa position to prevent the operationof the preceding machine. f

5. Mechanism for controlling the operation of the treadle-controlledpreceding one of two machines which are arranged to perform successiveoperations upon articles being manufactured, said mechanism comprising asupport accessible to the operator of the succeeding machine upon whicharticles operated upon by the preceding machine are placed, means forholding said support in a predetermined position in opposition to agiven quantity of articles placed upon it and for pertive position toprevent operation of the treadle mechanism.

6. Mechanism for indicating the too long-com tinued operation ofthe'preceding one of two machines arranged to operate successivelyuponarticles being manufactured, said mechanism comprising a supportaccessible to'the operator of the succeeding machine upon which articlesoperated upon by the preceding machine are placed, means for holding thesupport in apredetermined position in opposition to a given quantity ofarticles placed upon it and for permitting the support. to move whensaid quantity is exceeded, a signal mechanism, and means responsive tomovement of the article support for operating the signal mechanism andfor stopping the preceding machine;

ERASTUS E. WINKLEY.

